Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Having grown up as a white male, I have had all the privileges that comes with that, but I also have many of the biases.

Racist But Not a Hater

I grew up learning an amazing amount of bigotry...as a white Catholic boy, I can't tell you how many times I heard bigoted things about other races and religions. Racist "jokes", actions that "protected" me from exposure to dissimilar "others" and having an environment to grow up in that was pretty white and homogenized was the standard for my formative years.

I am very grateful I had the opportunity to try and get past this upbringing. But I still struggle with deeply ingrained ideas.

One ignorant example, about which I still cringe in embarassment whenever I think about it, happened at work years ago. I worked in Human Resources at the time and my company had a fitness center where I worked out most mornings before work. I was chatting with a woman who also worked there, and she was one of those tall, poised women that can get away with wearing anything and make it look good, and she was also African-American. That day, she was wearing this glorious peach colored workout outfit and to compliment her, I told her how much I loved her flesh-colored apparel.

Did I mentioned I was working in Human Resources at the time?

I am very grateful that she didn't get offended by my ignorant comment...she did however, point to the skin on her arm and asked me what color it was. I apologized profusely and after I got a bit less flustered by my gaffe, I realized how deeply ingrained my ideas on myself and others were.

There's a big difference between me and Donald and his "white supremacist" friends in Charlottesville (and elsewhere)...I'm not at all proud of my ignorance. I'm also always open to feedback about when I've done something hurtful. I'm also prepared to address ignorance, hatred and bigotry when I see it

I have a moral compass and wish I could offer one to Donald as well, but alas, I can't imagine he'd ever use it.

Current Knitting

Production knitting continues on the Coffee Cup Cozies (and will continue until I reach the quantity of 50).

I actually finished a total of 6 cozies in 2 days, and my total inventory so far is now 22. At that pace, it should take me another 9 days to have 50 total (although I think I'm getting faster and may be able to finish sooner if I keep at it).

Having grown up as a white male, I have had all the privileges that comes with that, but I also have many of the biases.

Racist But Not a Hater

I grew up learning an amazing amount of bigotry...as a white Catholic boy, I can't tell you how many times I heard bigoted things about other races and religions. Racist "jokes", actions that "protected" me from exposure to dissimilar "others" and having an environment to grow up in that was pretty white and homogenized was the standard for my formative years.

I am very grateful I had the opportunity to try and get past this upbringing. But I still struggle with deeply ingrained ideas.

One ignorant example, about which I still cringe in embarassment whenever I think about it, happened at work years ago. I worked in Human Resources at the time and my company had a fitness center where I worked out most mornings before work. I was chatting with a woman who also worked there, and she was one of those tall, poised women that can get away with wearing anything and make it look good, and she was also African-American. That day, she was wearing this glorious peach colored workout outfit and to compliment her, I told her how much I loved her flesh-colored apparel.

Did I mentioned I was working in Human Resources at the time?

I am very grateful that she didn't get offended by my ignorant comment...she did however, point to the skin on her arm and asked me what color it was. I apologized profusely and after I got a bit less flustered by my gaffe, I realized how deeply ingrained my ideas on myself and others were.

There's a big difference between me and Donald and his "white supremacist" friends in Charlottesville (and elsewhere)...I'm not at all proud of my ignorance. I'm also always open to feedback about when I've done something hurtful. I'm also prepared to address ignorance, hatred and bigotry when I see it

I have a moral compass and wish I could offer one to Donald as well, but alas, I can't imagine he'd ever use it.

Current Knitting

Production knitting continues on the Coffee Cup Cozies (and will continue until I reach the quantity of 50).

I actually finished a total of 6 cozies in 2 days, and my total inventory so far is now 22. At that pace, it should take me another 9 days to have 50 total (although I think I'm getting faster and may be able to finish sooner if I keep at it).